Win an Arc of Witch Song by Amber Argyle!!

Synopsis:  The world is changing. Once, Witch Song controlled everything from the winds to the shifting of the seasons-but not anymore. All the Witches are gone, taken captive by a traitor. All but Brusenna. As the echo of their song fades, the traitor grows stronger. Now she is coming for Brusenna. Her guardian has sworn to protect her, but even he can't stop the Dark Witch. Somehow, Brusenna has to succeed where every other Witch has failed. Find the traitor. Fight her. Defeat her. Because if Brusenna doesn't, there won't be anything left for her to save.

(Picture and Summary Courtesy of Goodreads)

Sounds awesome right? I KNOW!! But wait there's more!

Even better right?

So I know what you're thinking. "How can I win this book?? I HAVE TO HAVE IT BEFORE SEPTEMBER!!!"
Well here's how!

Go to Amber's page here to see how you can win this awesome book! I for one want to have it because it will help heal the wounds that our beloved Harry Potter witches and wizards have left on my heart!

Good Luck!

Release: September 1st 2011

Apologies... :D

      Hey everyone! I just want to apologize for my lack of blogging within the last four months. I've been exceptionally busy with school, writing, and active job searching. So my life has been pretty hectic!

     Firstly, I have spring break this week, so my goal is to have reviews for the last four books that I have completed during my away time. They are as follows:

     Each were good books in their own right and I can't wait to share my thoughts with you all about them.

     Secondly, I have news about my works-in-progress. Shadow Rose has an updated count of 35,000 words. The Night Guardian novels have received their name changes and I have updated each word count to 15,000 (1), 11,000 (2), and 9,300 (3). I know it doesnt seem like alot, but I am using this week off as a means to get at least 5,000 words for EACH WIP. So, it's safe to say that spring break will still be a work week.

    Thirdly, somehow I am going to get through at least four of the books on my to-read list and get a jumpstart on those reviews as well.

   Once again, I apologize for my lack of book blogging and I promise to make it up to you all!!!

   PS. There may be a giveaway in the works!! So stay tuned...

Happy Reading!!

Win an ARC of Holly Black's WHITE CAT from YA Booklover!!!

YA Booklover is having her first ever giveaway! To make it even better is that it's best-selling author Holly Black's White Cat!! She recently received an ARC of the novel and has decided to give it away! YAY!!

White Cat (The Curse Workers #1)

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories. (Goodreads)

 

See, doesn't it just sound like a book you want to immerse yourself in? Of course it does!!

To enter YA Booklover's awesome giveaway, click here.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Happy 2011!!!

New Years Widget by Widgia

Happy 2011 to all of my followers!! Wishing you all many more years to come :)

Well, since it's Teaser Tuesday...

Since everyone calls Tuesdays "Teaser Tuesday," I decided to give you all a few teasers from my WIPs. =] =] =] The first one is from my first book in the Dark Nature Novels, and the second is from the first book in the Night Guardian Series.

Shadow Rose--

“You smell wonderful, did you know that?” Someone in a deep voice said above me.

My eyes stayed closed. I could feel someone lifting my arm into the air and the soft inhaling on my skin. A shadow fell over my face and the inhaling continued at my hair.

“I know you are awake, my rose,” The man whispered softly in my ear. “I can hear your heart beat faster than before,”

Crap, I thought. He was a vampire and he wasn’t mine. The ground under me shifted and I realized that I was lying in a bed. I opened my eyes and my breathing hitched up a notch. The man’s face was so beautiful, so familiar…

My eyes widened in fear. I had seen this man before, in my dreams that turned to nightmares. His ebony black hair combed back without a strand out of place. His white skin looked normal and his cheeks were rosy, both indicating that he’d (gulp) eaten recently. Fluorescent blue eyes traveled from my face down my body. His licked his thin pink lips excitedly and I cringed in fear. A single tear fell from my eye and his nostrils flared at the new salty scent.

He gazed into my face with curiosity. “Do you know me?” He asked.

“No,” I said.

“Are you sure?” He asked leaning closer to my face.

I shook my head. “I know what you are,”

My voice was shaky. I did know him. He was my attractive nightmare. The guy Philip turned into at the end of my recurring dream- the guy that killed me.

Striker: The Night Guardians--

...he heard the most horrifying sound of his life, his wife’s blood curdling scream. With a warrior’s call, he stabbed the demon called Oliver in the throat and pinned him into the wall. The demon’s eyes and mouth gave off flashing orange lights as the demon’s soul burned and returned to its hell home and its body incinerated. William kicked his blade off the wall and ran into the kitchen to see his wife lying helplessly in a pool of her own blood.

William dropped his sword, stumbling backward away from his wife; he fell straight into the demon’s outstretched claws. Grief made him forget his task and purpose. He tried to push his way out, but there was nothing he could do; the demon called Slade, grabbed him and bit into his neck violently. The demon’s venom washed through William’s veins and he collapsed on the kitchen floor. It burned through his insides, making his blood boil and his muscles convulse in agony. He didn’t dare scream...

So how were they? Do the teasers make you want to read more or throw your head against a far wall to get away from them? Feedback needed and thanks for reading!

The Body Finder Author Kimberly Derting's Huge Ginormous Giveaway!!!

      Kimberly Derting, the author of the best-selling YA novel The Body Finder, is hosting a huge contest on her blog (Link at the bottom of post and on left sidebar)! 

      First prize winners will receive an ARC of her upcoming novel (and sequel to TBF) Desires of the Dead, a signed copy of THE BODY FINDER, and a complete Desires of the Dead swag pack (including a signed DotD poster, bookmarks, stickers, rubber bracelets, and buttons). Second prize winners will receive
a signed copy of THE BODY FINDER, an ARC of UNEARTHLY, and a complete DotD swag pack. Third prize winners will receive an ARC of THROUGH HER EYES, a $15 gift card to the online bookseller of your choice, and a complete DotD swag pack. So no matter what, everyone is a winner!! 

       I for one, am extremely excited about this contest because I ADORED The Body Finder. It was a wonderful story complete with the right amount of twists and powers you would expect in a book about finding the bodies of the dead.

For more details and info about the rules and regulations about the Desires of The Dead contest/giveaway, go to: http://kimberlyderting.blogspot.com/2010/12/big-frickin-huge-ginormous-desires-of.html

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus) by Rick Riordan

     Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out. Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god.

(Summary courtesy of Goodreads)

     The Lost Hero is book one of a new series from Rick Riordan as a continuation spin-off of Riordan’s best selling series Percy Jackson & The Olympians. It takes place two weeks after The Last Olympian (PJ & O) left off, where Percy and his friends successfully lead a group of demigods against the Titan king Kronos and saved Mt. Olympus from crumbling out of its refuge in the sky.

      In the story, Percy has gone missing and Jason magically appears at the same time with no memory of who he is or how he got there. All Jason knows is his name, there’s a golden coin in his pocket that turns into whatever type of sword he needs for the occasion and that he suddenly knows random facts about Roman gods and their attributes. He has no idea what is in store for him when he arrives at Camp Half-Blood, haven for the children of the gods.

      I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. It was not only a continuation of one of my favorite book series, but also a breath of fresh air with new characters and new prophecies to be fulfilled. I enjoyed the (although brief) appearances of my favorite characters (Annabeth, Chiron, and Thalia etc) from the original series. They kept me involved with the story because I wanted to know how much of an asset would they be to it.

      The plotline was pretty great. I love how Riordan uses the actual story/timeline that the Greek myths take. For example, in PJ & O the storyline was that the Titan lord Kronos tried to overthrow his Olympian children and regain the stem of power, which is exactly what the myths said happened millennia ago. After the Titans were defeated again, Gaia (the personification of earth and mother of Kronos) became angry at her son’s defeat and went back to Tartarus to rebirth her nastiest children, the Giant Lords to do what Kronos could not in The Lost Hero. All of this was written as myths and Riordan revamped them to fit into modern times which works so well.

       I am very excited for the next book in the series (Son of Neptune), which will have me jumping for joy as Jason and his friends go on a quest to find Percy, son of Poseidon! I recommend this to anyone who has ever read the Percy Jackson series and both to anyone who enjoys reading about the Greek gods and their children.

Four stars